The Piano Lesson

By August Wilson

Directed by Leah C. Gardiner

A Madison Premiere. What is the price of our past? Armed with a plan to purchase the land his father sharecropped for years, Boy Willie returns north to his sister's house in Pittsburgh to sell watermelons and the only family heirloom, a piano decorated with the beautifully carved faces of his ancestors. His sister Berniece sees her responsibility to join the long line of women who protect this family from its shortsighted schemes. For her, the piano sets their family apart: through its carvings the family can know its past and use it to shape its future. In the fourth of his cycle of dramas that explores African-American life in each decade of the 20th century, August Wilson depicts a sibling rivalry so impassioned that only the family ghosts can end it.

Produced by Madison Repertory Theatre at the Isthmus Playhouse at the Madison Civic Center, 211 State Street, Madison

Performances: March 5-28, 2004

Individual show tickets are $30 and $36, plus sales tax and $1 per ticket facilities fee.

Call (608) 258-4141 for reservations or more information.